"North Korea-Japan Summit, Backchannel Negotiations Also at a Standstill"

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has shown strong enthusiasm for holding a North Korea-Japan summit to resolve the abduction issue, but local reports indicate that even behind-the-scenes negotiations have reached a deadlock.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Asahi Shimbun reported on the 22nd, citing multiple government sources, that despite Prime Minister Kishida's enthusiasm, negotiations to hold a North Korea-Japan summit have recently stalled.

According to sources, just about a year ago, expectations for holding the summit had risen among some officials. One source said, "In March and May of last year, Japanese government officials and North Korean Workers' Party officials secretly met in major Southeast Asian cities, and plans to dispatch a senior Japanese official to Pyongyang were also discussed." However, since then, even negotiations have entered a deadlock.

The sources said that below the surface, a war of nerves between the two sides over resolving the abduction issue has continued. North Korea is reported to hold the position that the abduction issue has already been fully resolved. This is also why in March, Kim Yo-jong, Deputy Director of the North Korean Workers' Party, released a strong statement through the Korean Central News Agency declaring that "any contact with the Japanese side will be ignored and rejected." Within Japan, there are also voices expressing concern about the risks of holding a summit with North Korea, which maintains the stance that the abduction issue has been resolved.

Struggling with a sharp drop in approval ratings, Prime Minister Kishida has been working hard to realize a North Korea-Japan summit to resolve the key issue of abductees since taking office. Last month, during a state visit to the United States, he even secured public support from President Joe Biden.

The North Korea-Japan summit has not been held since May 22, 2004, exactly 20 years ago, when then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited North Korea. The two summits held so far (in 2002 and 2004) were both hosted in Pyongyang during the Koizumi administration. The previous Abe Shinzo administration also attempted several times to hold a North Korea-Japan summit but was unsuccessful.

The far-right Sankei Shimbun compared the Koizumi administration and the current Kishida administration, noting that while both have sought to find a breakthrough through secret negotiation channels with North Korea, "it is unclear whether they will achieve results." The Nihon Keizai Shimbun assessed that "changes in the international situation, such as Russia and North Korea drawing closer after the Ukraine war, have made resolving the abduction issue even more difficult," and concluded that North Korea has less need to negotiate with Japan.

Japanese government spokesman Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said on the day marking 20 years since former Prime Minister Koizumi's visit to North Korea, "It is regrettable that since the return of victims' families in 2004, not a single abductee has returned," adding, "We feel a renewed urgency to resolve the abduction issue and will do our utmost."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.